Con-way Shares Roll on Profit Surprise

Con-way(CNW Quote) stock rolled higher Friday as investors reacted to the trucking company's better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

Con-way shares were trading Friday afternoon at $41, up $5.03, or 14% on nearly quadruple the daily average volume.

In a press release after the bell Thursday, Con-Way reported unremarkable-to-poor second-quarter numbers: revenue down 21%, profit off 35% from the year ago. Still, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company's per-share earnings for the quarter of 64 cents blew past analysts' consensus EPS targets of 51 cents.

Also on Friday, JPMorgan stock analyst Thomas Wadewitz upgraded Con-Way shares to overweight from neutral.

The optimism for Con-way appeared partly based on the tribulations of its competitor, YRC Worldwide(YRCW Quote) -- which teeters on the brink of default -- and the business Con-way may be able to take away from YRC as it struggles.

YRC is scheduled to release its latest quarterly results on July 30.

Among other big truckers, Old Dominion Freight(ODFL Quote) released results of a difficult second quarter on Wednesday (its earnings tumbled 55%), while JB Hunt(JBHT Quote) last week missed Wall Street estimates on profit declines of nearly 50%.